BUFFALO, N.Y. (WKBW) — Survivors of sexual abuse by priests in the Diocese of Buffalo reacted with outrage and despair Tuesday to news that interim Bishop Edward B. Scharfenberger celebrated Mass the day before with multiple priests the diocese admits are credibly accused of child sexual abuse.
Scharfenberger invited priests of the diocese to Mass and lunch at St. Leo the Great in Amherst on Monday. At the Mass, dozens of priests dressed in robes and concelebrated, or shared the Mass and Eucharist with, the Rev. Fabian J. Maryanski.
"I'm so very sad and confused today," said Stephanie McIntyre, who said she was abused by Maryanski starting when she was 15 years old. "This is an all time low moment that hit me just when I thought I was ready to begin healing."
Maryanski had been accused of abusing McIntyre decades ago at a parish in Barker, and he denied the allegations. But on Jan. 7, 2019, the diocese included both Maryanski and the Rev. Mark J. Wolski on its official list of "priests with substantiated allegations of child sexual abuse.”
Diocesan leaders previously said the priests' cases would go to the Vatican, which makes the final decision on whether to defrock pedophile priests. A priest who attended the Mass on Monday told 7 Eyewitness News that both men -- Maryanski and Wolski -- were present, with Maryanski concelebrating the service and Wolski saying the convocation, or prayer, before the catered lunch. In 2018, a man said Wolski abused him from 1968 to 1970 while he was between 15 and 17 years old.
McIntyre said she started to cry and had "a total meltdown" upon hearing the news of Scharfenberger allowing Maryanski to concelebrate the Mass with dozens of other priests.
"[It] feels like justice was ripped away," McIntyre said. "If the proof of my case doesn't beg for justice, no victim will ever have justice."
In a written statement released Tuesday afternoon, Scharfenberger said the gathering "was a private Mass...not open to the public" and added, "I deeply regret that this decision to gather privately in prayer and penance opened the door to yet another wound for those harmed." Read Scharfenberger's full statement here.
Also present at the Mass, according to the priest, was the Rev. Art Smith, who has been accused of sexually abusing multiple children (he denies the claims) as well as allegedly assaulting Fr. Ryszard Biernat while Biernat was a seminarian.
Biernat said Smith approached him Monday at the priest luncheon and began making bizarre comments.
"He asked if there could be mediation between me and him because 'he never wanted to hurt me - he just wanted to show me how much he loved me and how much he cared for me,'" Biernat wrote on Facebook. "He said that he still loves me and it is all misunderstanding. I said to him that there is no misunderstanding. If you go into somebody's bed and climb under the sheets and grab their genitals and kiss their neck there's no misunderstanding there."
Biernat wrote that when he worked as Bishop Richard J. Malone's secretary, Biernat planned to apply for a restraining order against Smith because the priest kept contacting him after the alleged assault, but Biernat said Malone discouraged him from doing so.
"I have forgiven Art Smith, but to continue to hear how much he loves me and cares about me gets me so upset and angry," Biernat wrote. "Why doesn't he understand that this type of love is not OK? Why doesn't he understand that this is not how you show that you care about somebody? 16 years after being sexually assaulted I still deal with this guy who would not let go. Sixteen years later I lay in bed and it feels like I am there again..."
Biernat said Bishop Scharfenberger was joined on the altar by Auxiliary Bishop Edward Grosz, Msgr. Robert Zapfel and the Rev. Joseph Gatto, who was accused by multiple men of sexual misconduct. Gatto denied the allegations but acknowledged spending time at a church "treatment center" in Canada.
He was returned to ministry by Malone last year, but the bishop reversed the appointment after outrage by parents. Since then, Zapfel has quietly allowed him to assume a position as parochial vicar at St. Leo's in Amherst.
